At the close of Monday's practice, Navy football coach Ken Niumatalolo told his team he was excited that the roster was as healthy as it had been in a long time.

That, of course, included starting quarterback Zach Abey, who is expected to play in Thursday's game at Temple after leaving the Mids' most recent game against Central Florida with a concussion.

“Coach said we’re all flying around, had a lot of energy,” Abey said after Monday’s practice. “I think him seeing that a lot of guys are out of red (non-contact jerseys) now and getting more and more healthy — I think that’s a big part of us having a good practice today.”

Abey’s injury occurred Oct. 21, but the Mids had a bye week following the Central Florida game. The junior was grateful to have ample time to recover.

“It happened at a good time because we had some days off,” he said. “I was able to rest and get treatment for as long as I wanted. The main thing was just being able to rest and take a couple days off from practice, and I think that helped a lot.”

Niumatalolo said Abey was a full participant in practice in the Mids’ previous three practices Friday, Saturday and Monday. Offensive coordinator Ivin Jasper felt Abey had a good Monday practice overall.

“He was sharp, man, confident. He lost focus there towards the end, missed a few things in practice that we’ve sort of been working on all season,” Jasper said. “He has his good days. It was a solid day, very, very solid. Just the last part of practice, he missed one play, basically.”

Abey said he had a concussion his sophomore year of high school at Archbishop Spalding, but that that was the full extent of his history with concussions.

It's not as though Abey is being forced onto the field out of necessity, either. Coaches were happy with what they saw from backup quarterback Garret Lewis when he relieved Abey against UCF. The junior came in during the third quarter and soon led the Mids on a touchdown drive, but also threw a game-ending interception on their last chance in the fourth quarter. He finished 3 of 9 for 56 yards and carried the ball 11 times for 39 yards.

The coaching staff is confident in Lewis if he has to step in for Abey in the future.

“I thought Garret did a lot of good things for a guy who hadn’t played, came in there against UCF, a really good football team and played really well,” Niumatalolo said. “He had one boo-boo there at the end but we’re all human, we all make mistakes, and I thought he played a really good football game.”

“He played well. Again, just one play, with a little better decision, the game could’ve been different,” Jasper said. “But he learned from it. Again, in the game he did do some good things for us, moved the ball and got us to the end zone, so we’re very pleased with that. So he has some experience now, some game experience, so he’s good to go.”

Abey himself was also high on Lewis' performance.

“I think Garret did a great job. I always had trust in him,” Abey said. “He’s a solid player, he’s a good kid. He knows what to do and I had full faith in him that when he was gonna go, he was gonna do great.”

Navy had its last practice and lifting session Tuesday before traveling to Philadelphia to play Temple, another American Athletic Conference foe. Thursday’s game will be telecast on ESPN.